The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
on december 13, Erika, a 25-year-old tanker carrying over 30,000 tonnes of TotalFina crude broke into two and sank just south of the English Channel. The massive oil slick spread along 500 km of the French coast. For over three weeks after the incident, the company, French oil giant TotalFina, …
The European Commission (EC) and France will battle out the British beef safety issue in the European Court of Justice. EC spokesperson Jean-Christophe Filori said that the French were yet to give a plausible explanation for maintaining the embargo, which it imposed in the wake of the mad cow scare …
According to a study by Paris-based scientist Xavier Jouven, sudden cardiac deaths among men can be traced to their family history. While it is well-known that a person's genetic blueprint contributes to his or her risk of a heart attack, this is the first study to identify a genetic risk …
the European Commission's (ec) consumer protection department has rejected the explanation given by Coca-Cola for the contamination scare that broke out in France and Belgium in May and June. The department also found fault with the French authorities' handling of the problem. A recently released report by the department said …
the Green Party in France has threatened to pull out of the government coalition if prime minister Lionel Jospin approved a new generation of nuclear power stations to replace the old ones. The nuclear energy issue has always been a point for debate among coalition partners. France has 57 nuclear …
IN GERMONY Sweedan and the Netherlands, protecting and caring for the environment has become part of the culture. This high level of public awareness pushes the politicians and the industry towards looking for genuine changes in policies and laws. By contrast, it is just a greenwash here in France. The …
Recent findings presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology at Tours in France point out that male fertility starts to decline in the late 30s. Scientists who presented the findings said after the age of 39, men's sperm begins to deteriorate at a …
france has tightened norms on the use of chemicals in toys after studies confirmed the dangers of chemicals present in them. The government has said that buying, selling, production, import and export of a number of plastic toys containing phthalates are to be prohibited. Besides, it also imposed a ban …
in applications like satellite navigation, a fraction of a second here or there can send the satellite straying off its path. The best clocks in the world (including the international definition of the second) are based on a specific transition of electrons in caesium atoms. Now, a team of scientists …
French company Sopro of Marseille has come up with an electronic device that helps singers improve their vocal techniques. The new gadget produces a musical note which the singers then try to imitate. Meanwhile, their vocal cords are illuminated by a lamp which flashes at a rate that matches the …
britain and France are engaged in a battle with Germany over the latter's decision to phase out nuclear power. The two countries want Germany to come out with a compensation package for foreign waste processing companies. Jurgen Trittin, Germany's environment minister, has said that there was "no legal basis for …
The European Commission (EC) is taking the UK and France to court for violating European Union (EU) pollution laws. The EC claims that the UK has failed to prevent water pollution from nitrates and France has not come up with adequate plans to deal with waste and hazardous materials. Under …
better roads ahead: Delhi-based company, Tinna Oils and Chemicals Ltd has introduced a new bitumen modifier which improves the quality of roads and prolongs their lives by 2.5 times. According to Vijay Sekhri, managing director of the company, the new technique substantially improves the vital properties of bitumen and bituminous …
france has decided to suspend a judgement on whether it will allow the planting of genetically-altered corn, dashing industry hopes that the French market would soon be open to the products. France's Council of State, which monitors administrative law, had been due to decide in December whether to let Swiss …
THE HIV virus continues to trouble the medical world. According to a recently-published report, about five per cent of infants born to HIV-positive women in the developing countries receive the virus through breast-feeding. Researchers concluded that the risk of post-natal HIV transmission via breast-feeding is substantial. Valiriane Leroy and colleagues …
King penguin chicks are remarkably adept at hearing their parents' voices over the din of the colony, researchers have found. This ability, which is shared by humans, is known as the "cocktail party effect" - the human brain's capacity to filter out irrelevant background noise. King penguins breed in colonies …
THE world's first hand transplant has been carried out by an international team of doctors at a French hospital. The right hand and forearm of an anonymous donor were attached to 48-year-old Australian Glint Hallam, whose hand was amputated in 1989 after an accident. Doctors attached "all the arteries, veins, …
STUDIES have revealed that Cogema, the operator of the state-owned La Hague reprocessing plant, has installed inadequate equipment off the plant's discharge pipe, 30 metres under the sea, in a futile attempt to prevent the routine discharge of radioactive particles into the ocean. According to Greenpeace, an international environmental group, …
OUR day-to-day behaviour depends on the hormonal balance in our bodies. Whether we want to eat, drink or sleep depends on the hormonal status of our system at any given moment. It is well known that hormones are released by the anterior pituitary gland, which is stimulated by the part …
